Unique stone leads a 143-year-old Door County home to be named a national historic place

STURGEON BAY - Special stone has led to a local home becoming a nationally historic place, two months after the state deemed it historic as well.

The Wisconsin Historical Society announced May 17 that the 143-year-old Dr. Joseph and Olivia Soper House in Sturgeon Bay was listed earlier this month on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was added to the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places in late February.

What makes the house at 23 N. Fifth Ave. architecturally and historically significant, according to the historical society, is that its exterior is clad in locally produced Frear artificial stone. The society's webpage for the house says it is the only residential structure using this short-lived building material that remains standing in the city and one of just three properties using it in Wisconsin, including a commercial building with Frear stone at 40-44 N. Third Ave. in the city.

Frear artificial stone was an early form of concrete, cast from sand or gravel. George Frear of Chicago earned a patent for it in 1868, and it was promoted as an affordable alternative to natural stone, claiming advantages of being both strong and versatile with a wide range of color tones and a nearly infinite variety of molds into which it could be cast.

Frear Stone Manufacturing Co. was located in Chicago, but the cast stone used at the Soper House was manufactured in Sturgeon Bay by Giles Kirtland, a former superintendent at the Frear plant who purchased the rights to manufacture and sell the product locally.

Frear stone was used at the Soper House for the smooth block veneer, the drip course above the foundation, window sills and decorative arched hoods over the windows. The rear dormer windows and existing garage are later additions, but the interior plan of the building remains largely as it was when built 143 years ago.

Use of Frear stone was limited, and by the mid-1880s artificial stone was largely replaced by more modern forms of concrete, which the historical society said makes "Frear stone a short-lived but important chapter in the development of modern concrete construction."

Also contributing to the house's historic status is its age, of course, and design. Built in 1881, the Italianate-style residence includes corner quoins, wide overhanging eaves with prominent gable ornamentation, tall and narrow double-hung windows, and a projecting bay window with tall and narrow stilted arch windows, overhanging eaves and decorative brackets, all in addition to the Frear stone features mentioned above.

Another detail – not necessarily relating to the house but in the same lot – is the casting of street names on a flat concrete slab at the inside corner of the Louisiana Street and Fifth Avenue sidewalks. Here, the names of Church (now Fifth) and Cottage (now Louisiana) streets are visible. This detail can be found on many street corners within the older portions of the city and is of some urban design interest.

As for the house's history, the Sopers sold it in 1886 to George Spear, a partner in Merchants Exchange Bank (whose building itself, at 10 N. Third Ave., also is on the state and national historic place registers). In the 20th century, the house was divided into two apartment units before serving as office space for a local nonprofit organization.

The house is now a private residence that, according to the society, is undergoing restoration as part of a state historic tax credit project.

The State Historic Preservation Office at the Wisconsin Historical Society administers both the State Register and National Register in Wisconsin. For more information on the registers, visit wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register; for more on the Soper House, visit wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2795.

Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@doorcountyadvocate.com.

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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: 143-year-old Sturgeon Bay home is named a national historic place